Dog walker finds a slippery customer on the beach

Rachel Jeffrey certainly had a shock when she was out on the beach walking her dog Nelson.

They found a dead snake, estimated at four feet long, on the tideline at North Beach, St Annes close to the back of the Thursby Rest home.

“It was the strangest thing I have ever found,” said the St Annes mum-of-two. She reported the find to Fylde Council, who have since cleared it from the beach and senior coast and countryside officer Geoff Willetts said:

“Snakes are certainly not native to our shores and so I cannot think of anything other than it being a pet that has been released or has escaped.

“It’s condition suggested it hadn’t been in the water that long, possibly a day or two.”

Meanwhile, Lytham reader Marion Coupe told us of her find of a barrel jellyfish close to the sea wall at Fairhaven, adding: “It looked as though it could be alive and there was a smaller one of a different type which looked dead. No doubt a result of the rough weather.”

Geoff added: “The jellyfish are not uncommon at all and are seen washed up regularly up and down our coastline, especially after rougher seas.

“These barrel jellyfish are attracted by the warmer sea temperatures.”